Venezuela’s Chavez Uses National Address to Slam Opposition

July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
used a system of national broadcasting known as “cadena” today
to criticize Henrique Capriles Radonski, the opposition
candidate he will face in elections set for Oct. 7.

“He is a daddy and mommy’s boy,” Chavez said in a speech
to the country’s armed forces at a military base in Caracas
carried on Venezuelan television and radio stations. “He
doesn’t know what it means to be a soldier.”

Chavez, 57, often uses “cadenas” to broadcast speeches
that last for hours, to transmit government events and to
criticize his political foes. The former paratrooper said on
July 9 he had the constitutional right to use the broadcast
system even though a formal campaign period began on July 1.

Capriles, speaking at a campaign event in western Falcon
state today, said that Chavez is abusing the “cadena” system
for political purposes and invited the armed forces to support
his campaign.

“Our soldiers have to deal with insecurity and power
outages too,” Capriles said today in comments carried on state
television, referring to the country’s high crime rate and
problems with electricity generation. “I’ve been told the
message I sent them has been well-received.”

Capriles, 40, on July 12 sent the armed forces a video
message and said he would aim to improve their lives if elected,
television network Globovision reported on its website. The
former governor of Miranda state is scheduled to hold a march in
Caracas tomorrow.

Health Concerns

“If the opposition gets into power, they will carry out a
witch hunt in the armed forces,” Chavez said during the two-hour broadcast. “The strategy of the opposition is to lie, lie
and lie.”

The self-declared socialist traveled later in the day to
the central city of Barquisimeto, where he spoke before tens of
thousands of supporters and thanked them for praying for his
health.

“After this life, I’m sure that I’ll stay with you, even
though I won’t be here physically,” he said in a ninety-minute
speech carried by state television. “When you sing that Chavez
isn’t going anywhere, it doesn’t refer just to me anymore.
Chavez today is no longer me. Chavez is the people.”

Chavez, who has promised to win the election with 10
million votes, said July 9 that he’s “totally free” of a
cancer whose exact type and location he’s refused to reveal. The
comment echoes similar remarks in October 2011 that he later
retracted after the discovery of a second tumor in February saw
him travel to Cuba for surgery and radiation treatment.

“I’ll be with the people until the last second of my
life,” said Chavez, urging supporters to target undecided and
middle class voters. “The next six-year term will be spent
furthering the path to socialism.”